SPRINTER TRAIN PASSES FIRST TEST

Rail line was shut down when brake wear was discovered

Efforts to return the Sprinter light rail network to service took a key step forward Sunday with a successful test run of one train and its new brake parts, a transit spokeswoman said.

The North County Transit District shut down the Oceanside-to-Escondido Sprinter system starting March 9 after it discovered accelerated wear on all 12 trains’ brake rotors.

Sunday’s test, in which one train ran between Escondido and San Marcos, was the first in what’s expected to be a weeks- or months-long overall evaluation period.

“Everything went great” Sunday, transit district spokeswoman Frances Schnall said Monday. “Everyone was really pleased with how things went.”

The train reached speeds of up to 50 mph, she said. State law imposes a 55 mph speed limit on the train.

Schnall added that federal rail officials observed the test runs. No braking measurements were recorded during the first day of testing, she said.

More test runs are expected through Thursday on the tracks between the Escondido Transit Center and Woodland Parkway in San Marcos, Schnall said. They are scheduled to take place between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

During those runs, crews will place up to 46,000 pounds in sand bags in the cabin to mimic a Sprinter train that is full of passengers, Schnall said.

The district expects to perform several tests on the trains during a 24-day period, Tom Tulley, the transist district’s chief of safety, said in a blog post last week. Federal and state agencies and other groups will then analyze data from those tests, he said.

The test runs that began Sunday involve a small number of replacement brake rotors that had arrived last week from Kovis, a European manufacturer of rail parts.

A separate set of rotors from a French company has yet to arrive. Officials plan to test both rotor sets, determine which is better and then order a full set for all the Sprinter trains.

In March, transit district officials said the Sprinter system could be offline for up to four months.

During the shutdown, replacement buses have ferried the thousands of riders who relied on the Sprinter each day.